Opinion
Blacks Need to Join Economic Discussion
--“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
Founder/Publisher
B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
J ERRY F OSTER
Advertising Manager
C HRISTEN M C C URDY
News Editor
P ATRICIA I RVIN
Graphic Designer
A RASHI Y OUNG
D ONOVAN M. S MITH
Reporters
M ONICA J. F OSTER
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ULIE K EEFE
S USAN F RIED
Photographers
The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
O
ne’s worldview or social
perspective is informed by
a matrix of different
socioeconomic and political cir-
cumstances. A polling of Black
America about the current “recov-
ery” of the economy of the United
States would produce a dramati-
cally different set of responses
from the polling results of White
America. That is because the vast
economic
inequality
between Blacks and Whites in the
U.S. today appears to be escalat-
ing.
According the latest reports
from the U.S. Department of
Commerce, the steady overall
pace of the recovery of the econo-
my continues to grow and
expand. Yet while there was a .7
percent decline in the economy
for the first quarter of 2015, the
forecast for the remainder of 2015
looks very favorable and prof-
itable, especially for those who
are already wealthy.
I have always believed that
Black Americans should become
much more aware of the economic
trends that are affecting the U.S.
economy as a whole. Too often we
get left out of the national discus-
sion concerning the economy
because we do not consistently
articulate the overall daily nation-
al economic interests of 45 mil-
lion Black Americans.
While it is important to continue
to cite the fact that the current
annual Black American spending
in the U.S. economy totals more
than $1.2 trillion, how do we real-
NNPA
C OLUMNIST
Benjamin F.
Chavis Jr.
ly leverage that fact to help
empower Black American fami-
lies and communities to get out of
poverty? Economic productivity
is not just about how much a per-
son or a group spends. Economic
productivity is also about how
to the point that it is now being
called the “racial wealth gap.”
The state of Black America’s
economy has to be a priority issue
that is addressed in every munici-
pality and in every state where
Black Americans are concentrat-
ed. This also needs to be
addressed as well at the federal
level not once a year but every day
of every month in each of the four
quarters that the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) is determined and
debated. The GDP, as defined by
the U.S. Department of Com-
merce Bureau of Economic
Analysis, is the value of the aggre-
gate production of goods and
Black American economists and
professionals in the financial services
arena should formally issue on a
quarterly basis a report on the Black
American GDP
much a person or a group pro-
duces, invests, and leverages to
achieve sustainable financial
development and empowerment.
The wealth gap between Black
and White Americans continues
grow wider. The U.S. Census
Bureau reported in 2011 that the
median White household had
$111,146 in wealth holdings,
compared to only $7,113 for the
median Black household. Four
years later, that gap has widened
services in the United States and
that is adjusted for price changes.
Black American economists and
professionals in the financial serv-
ices arena should formally issue
on a quarterly basis a report on the
Black American GDP.
Do not misunderstand what I am
calling for or the reason for doing
such a report routinely each quar-
ter. This is not just about statistics.
This is about the need to make the
national economic debate more
inclusive of the economic inter-
ests of the Black American com-
munity.
We are grateful to the National
Urban League for its annual report
on the State of Black America that
is published each year. Its 2015
report, State of Black America® –
“Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs
+ Justice,” that documented the
facts that economic inequality
between Black and White Ameri-
cans was rapidly increasing across
the nation.
Marc Morial, president and
CEO of the National Urban
League, emphasized, “Black
America is in crisis – a jobs crisis,
an education crisis and a justice
crisis.” I agree with Morial and I
would add that Black America’s
crisis today is also an economic
crisis.
We should remain vigilant and
not let the disparities or the
increasing economic inequalities
break our spirit. We have been
through hard time before today
and we will face hard socioeco-
nomic times in the future.
Our ancestors did not let racism,
injustice and inequity break their
collective and individual determi-
nation to make progress even in
the face of brutal and institutional-
ized oppression.
Our struggle and labor for eco-
nomic equality will continue in
America and throughout the
world.
Let’s keep pushing forward to
advance the social and economic
progress of Black America.
IMM Publications Inc.,
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Telephone (503) 285-5555.
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ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers
Association.
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Justice is Not Blind – Nor is it Colorblind
W
hen racist attitudes,
either conscious or sub-
conscious, are com-
bined with the discretionary
powers that law enforcement offi-
cers have, the result is a differen-
tial outcome, with African
Americans more likely to be the
targets of “blind justice.”
Most of our politicians and lead-
ers are exploiting subconscious
racism, and pandering to explicit
racial fears. Even worse, they are
rewarded when they say they are
“tough on crime.”
Soledad O’Brien documented
some of these attitudes in her most
recent “Black In America” series.
Included was an interview with a
young Black man was stopped
more than 100 times as he stood
outside his college. Of course,
he’d done nothing wrong, but
police officers, “doing their duty,”
felt free to harass him.
In a more telling segment, two
young men, one Black and one
white, staged the “stealing” of a
bike to show how members of the
public responded to watching the
apparent theft.
The young men were dressed
similarly – T-shirts, casual pants,
caps. People walked by as the
white guy did everything he could
to break the lock on the bike,
including using a chain cutter.
One even offered to help him take
“his” bike, even though he
acknowledged it was not his.
Within moments of the Black
man approaching the bike, white
people, one or two of whom called
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner June 3, 2015
B ENNETT
C OLLEGE
Julianne
Malveaux
911, surrounded him.
As opposed to the benign
response the White guy got, the
Black guy was simply assumed to
be a criminal.
How does this play out on the
streets and with officers of the
Pantaleo could have told Garner
to move on, or he would risk
arrest. Instead, Pantaleo and his
posse of lawless cowboys chose to
kill the man. Would a white man
be similarly treated, or did uncon-
scious racism play into the callous
way Eric Garner was treated?
During the late 1990s, Mayor
Rudy Giuliani’s “stop and frisk”
policies resulted in African Amer-
ican men being stopped more than
five times as frequently as Cau-
casians, even though these frisks
led to nothing more than the
humiliation of Black men, some
simply coming off the subway or
walking down the street. Hispanic
men were stopped about three
A young Black man was stopped
more than 100 times as he stood
outside his college. Of course, he’d
done nothing wrong, but police
officers, ‘doing their duty,’ felt free to
harass him
law? Police officers use their dis-
cretion selectively. A Black man
(Eric Garner) selling loose ciga-
rettes is manhandled, arrested, and
dies when he is choked and cannot
breathe. Most have seen the video
by now, and wonder why Daniel
Pantaleo was not charged with
any crime, even though he used an
illegal chokehold on Garner.
times as often as Caucasians.
White men were stopped and
frisked less frequently than others.
Unconscious racism? Discretion?
The law sanctions both.
Stop and frisk incidents
increased dramatically with no
concomitant increase in crime.
However, since New York Mayor
Bill Blasio took office, the num-
ber of stop and frisk incidents has
dropped by almost three quarters,
again with no increase in crime. It
appears that whether stop and
frisk occurrences are aggressive
or gentle; the incidence of crime
does not increase.
There are many occurrences
where police can make discre-
tionary decisions. First, they can
decide whom to stop. Then, when
they stop, they don’t have to arrest
or frisk. A simple conversation
that explains the reason for the
stop will yield a more favorable
outcome than wrestling someone
to the ground, knee in his or her
back, or handcuffing someone
without explaining why.
Police resistance to the use of
body cameras suggests these offi-
cers know that they are out of
order in dealing with the public.
Once someone is arrested, the
police have the right to charge him
or her with a minor crime or let
them go. Finally, prosecutors can
decline to bring charges.
All of these decisions can be
minimized or maximized, based
on discretion.
Justice is not blind when police
officers use discretion to stop one
segment of the population to
harshly mistreat and let the other
population slide.
If police officers wonder why
there is antipathy and distrust
toward them in the African Amer-
ican community, somebody needs
to tell them that their use of dis-
cretion suggests that justice is
hardly blind.